Let's
Get It Done State of the University Address
Philip W. Eaton, President
Seattle Pacific University
September 20, 2000

Opening
Remarks.This
is always a special moment of gathering for me: all of our people in
one place for worship, for talk about who we are, what's going on, and
where we are headed. I want to thank Tim Dearborn for organizing and
leading the worship service; to Jill Haarsma for being the detail person;
to Char Summers for being the point person for so many of our opening
events. We gather here with our distinguished faculty, our loyal and
dedicated staff, our student leaders, our alumni council members, and
a number of our trustees. Welcome to all of you for the beginning of
the 2000-2001 year. I will be recognizing a lot of people throughout
this address, but I want to say a special thanks to my Cabinet (Marj
Johnson, Bruce Murphy, Don Mortenson, Bob McIntosh), my wife Sharon,
to our trustees present this morning, and Karen Jacobson. I want to
say special thanks to the academic deans. A special welcome to Derrick
Woodward and the student leaders. I want to recognize Kathleen Braden,
now beginning her second year as Dean of Student Life-what an outstanding
job. And Tim Dearborn for his fine leadership as Dean of the Chapel.

Community.As you know by now, I believe in community. Gathering is important
to me. The State of the University and the Opening Convocation are
the two big times for us to gather as a community.

I believe
we will be a better institution if we continue to build community.

I am both and idealist and a realist on this subject.

Idealistic
that Christian community is one of the deepest values we can preserve
in this highly individualistic world. Idealistic that our individual
lives are made richer and fuller through community. Community allows
us to invest in a bigger purpose, gives us a chance to serve and love,
to experience failure and forgiveness, gives us a context of accountability.
These are good things.

And yet realistic
about the challenges of community, that community is counter-cultural,
that there are the pressures of too-much work, the juggling of family
and career, the distances some of you must drive each day.

And yet I yearn
still to make it happen. Let's keep working hard to be in community.
Figure out how to give yourself to this place. You will be richer. And
we will be richer.

Thanks
to a lot of people.
I have a great deal to say this morning. I want to tell you how the
University looks from my point of view. I want to talk about some extraordinary
things that are happening and as well the huge and wonderful challenges
that lie ahead. I want you to know how I see our work, the big picture,
the all-university view. I want you to care about these things. Your
view and my view need to be congruent.

But I want to
acknowledge also that each one of you is focused intensely on what you
are doing, your special contribution, the preparations you are making
for the year ahead. Some of you this morning are working on the
last financial aid packages, making it possible for those last students
to attend. Some of you are thinking about advising these new students
well. Many of you are thinking about the new course you are preparing.
Some of you are thinking about the final touches for an article you
have written this summer. Those of you in the residence halls are eager
and yet anxious to have the students move in. Some are thinking about
the detail of the new building we have under way. Many of you are thinking
about the fundraising strategies we have launched. Some of you are thinking
about the last of our summer repairs and renovations to our physical
plant. Some of you are thinking about how to win that next game on the
soccer field or the volleyball court or the cross country course.

All of this adds
up to a community of very gifted people, each doing an essential task,
each making a contribution to the whole, each guided in the same direction
by a common vision and purpose. This is a good thing.

I was talking
to an alum yesterday, a prominent person, who began at SPU in 1959.
He began telling me about how his life was changed here at SPU. Did
he talk about the new buildings, new funding strategies, new programs?
No, he talked about a conversation in a faculty office that changed
the course of his life. He talked about a chapel sermon that impacted
what he chose to do in life. He talked about the bringing of genuine
piety he could respect with high level learning. He talked about a staff
person that was a model of kindness for him.

And so as we
begin this year, God bless each one of you. You are the people who make
it happen. I want to support you. I want to recognize you along the
way. I want to thank you for what you do.

The slow back-swing.
What a year lies ahead. I am calling this a year to get it done.
This is the year to roll up our sleeves. We know what our targets
are. We know what our vision is. We have done our planning. Now it is
time to get it done.

Marj Johnson shared
with me this summer a series of articles from Fast Company talking about
the need for companies to have ideas, no question about it, but the
need as well to invest energy in getting those ideas executed. This
hit Marj, and hit me, just at the right moment. At some moment in the
life of any organization, its leaders need to pause from the planning
and pause with the talking, and roll up the sleeves and get it done.

This is just where
we are.

I have a metaphor
I want to submit for our year ahead. I played a little golf this summer
(my golfing buddies will like this metaphor, the rest of you may not
get it). Bob Nuber, one of our board members, said to me one day, pull
the club back slowly. Keep the back-swing slow. One of the great mysteries
in life is the golf swing. But once the slow back-swing gets everything
aligned, then we come through with great speed. Rip it. Bruce Murphy
knows how to do this. Don Mortenson is challenging everyone. They tell
me Frank Spina has matured as a golfer.

The slow back-swing
gets everything aligned with vision. This is the year to swing away,
the year to get things done. But let's make sure that the back-swing
is slow. By the way, we may hit the trees from time to time. We might
even have to hunt for the ball in the bushes. But that should not impede
our swing. The worst thing we could do is to get tentative. We
will swing with great force. And we will hit the fairway most of the
time. We will get it done. But remember, keep the back-swing slow.

My Expectations
for 2000-2001. Let me say some things about my expectations for
the year. Come June 2001, what will a good year look like?

This is big list,
but it is not a laundry list. This is a very considered list of what
is on the plate. Cabinet members have assignments for all of these tasks.
I am asking them to focus their energies in these ways. I will be submitting
this list to the Chairman of the Board and to my performance evaluation
committee. I ask each one of you to focus your energies around these
issues as well.

Eight
Significant Areas of Focus for the Year.

1. Vision
work. I will continue with new energy to lift up vision. I am
committed to becoming even more a teaching leader on vision. I am being
asked to speak. People are writing me all the time from around the country.
I am doing some writing: Op-ed this morning; Soapbox. My job is to lift
up vision. It is the job of every leader. It is the job of each one
of us. We must lift up our vision.

Our vision is
strong; it is clear and compelling. Grounding everything we do on the
transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. Engaging the culture/changing the
world. Competence, character, wisdom, and grace-filled community-these
are our operative values.

I would like to
ask this question of each of you: what will you do to align your work
to the vision? How is Jesus Christ at the center of all you do? How
are you participating in engaging the culture/changing the world? How
are you contributing to competence, character, wisdom, and grace-filled
community?

University Relations
summer retreat asked the question: what does it mean to engage the culture?
Student Life and Campus Ministries joint retreat asked the question:
what is grace-filled community, how can we contribute, how can we covenant
together to be grace-filled? Faculty Retreat this year asked the question:
what does it mean to be a worshiping, grace-filled community? This
is the kind of work we need to continue to do.

We will stay steady
with the vision. It will evolve, deepen, grow-but we need to keep it
out in front of us to guide our decisions and direction.

One side note
here. I will be leading a process to rewrite our mission statement
this year. I don't think this should be a very complicated process.
We have been involved in the business of shaping a vision for this
place for three years now. I think I know what the mission should
say. Just as I received very careful input from all of you in shaping
the vision statement, I would like to hear from you if you have thoughts
about the mission statement. I will be submitting the new mission
statement to the board sometime this year.

2.The
Campaign.This is a major focus for our work in the coming
year. We are still in the quiet phase of our campaign. When you
add up all of the contributions, the pledges, and the expected annual
giving over the next five years, we stand at close to $25 million of
our original $50 million goal in this quiet phase of the campaign. We
have some $20 million in asks on the table right now. The Board of Trustees
stepped up to the campaign at eight times the level of giving than ever
before. We are forming a new leadership team (I am excited that Bruce
Walker, one of our trustees, has accepted the role of the new chair).
Bob McIntosh has built a strong advancement team.Our new
strategic work, at this seam point in the campaign, is to broaden the
base of leadership to carry the ball with us. I would like to see
us have two endowed chairs and two major, lead gifts by the end of this
academic year in addition to all of the smaller gifts that will accumulate
through the year.

3.Positioning.
I want to press forward with positioning. I believe it is critical to
our success. Much has been done, much is in the works, much is yet to
be done. A clear plan and strategy will be in place this year. Branding
will begin to emerge. The vision language must be out there.
Strong external visibility. Just as strong internal self image (this
is the Dave Winter syndrome). We will break new ground here in the coming
year. Watch for a significant new marketing effort in national Christian
publications this year on alums who are engaging the culture. Commendations
to Marj Johnson, Ken Cornell, John Glancy and the rest of the team.
This is indeed a year to roll up our sleeves on the positioning front.

4.Board
leadership, development, cultivation. This is a major new focus
for me in the coming year. I am so grateful to our board. They are
just extraordinary in their support, their willingness to take some
risks, their desire to understand our vision, their hard work. We
will be electing a new chair for the Board that will bring a new era
for the Board (our goal is to elect by the November meeting so that
there can be overlap). Steve Anderson has been such a good leader, companion,
supporter, and friend to me, but his term expires. We must continue
to work on building and developing a great board. We must have a Board
of Trustees that is completely in tune with our vision and with the
level of our expectations and we are making great progress.

5.Technology.This coming year will be the beginning of a new chapter for technology.
With all of the great leadership, and all of the great work in this
area, I believe we need to have top-level discussions on our philosophy,
strategy, and funding for technology. I want to commend Don Mortenson,
Dave Tindall, David Wicks, and so many others for serving us so well.
But I want us to be on the leading edge of all Christian colleges
and universities in the country, and this will take focus and clarity
of direction. I do not think we have a choice. We will need to break
new ground for administrative use of technology but most importantly
in the academic use of technology. How can we be assisted even more
in the learning process and for research and scholarship? I will need
strong leadership from the Cabinet as we launch these discussions.

6. R& D.
I will be looking for some real results here. I think it is critical
for an urban university of our size to be on the cutting edge of
exploration on delivery systems and new markets. In some of our
areas there is no need for change. But in many of our areas, we must
be responsive to a changing world or we will not remain competitive.
I don't know where all of this is going, but we better be tuned in.
We have to develop the instincts, the systems of support, the leadership,
the attentiveness to opportunity. As most of you know, I have assigned
Marj Johnson to make sure that all of the support systems-budget systems,
startup funding, market analysis, enrollment projections, and marketing-are
in place to support our program managers. We need everyone tuned in
to what our goals are here. Five years: $2.5 million new net revenue.
New revenue streams by the end of the year and a growing culture of
exploration. I am aware of some of the discussion and the push-back
in this area. We are not here changing the direction of the University,
but we must ensure that some of our innovative ideas get the proper
support and that we are developing responsible income. This is one
where we need to roll up our sleeves.

7. A Five-Year
Academic Plan. I want to see this year a strategic plan for
the Education Plan over a five-year period, including priorities, funding
plans, budget realignment, staffing needs, and fundraising needs. I
know that the Provost, the deans, and the faculty have been working
on this. This plan will be congruent with the vision, guided by our
academic leadership, and understood and supported by the President and
the President's Cabinet. We must get a strong, viable plan in place,
one that we all support and work hard to accomplish.

8. Our Facilities
Plan. Our Masterplan has been approved! With our new bond financing
funding, we will finish the Emerson Residence Hall, begin the Science
Building, and begin the renovation of Marston and MSLC. Tax exempt,
state sponsored bond financing is a dramatic, historic new tool for
investing in the vision of this place. This is bricks and mortar investment,
but it must be seen as a major investment tool for our vision. This
is a major development. My thanks to Don Mortenson, Craig Kispert, Darrell
Hines, Dave Church, Wayne Elling, and all the rest of this team. My
thanks also to Fred Safstrom, the Chair of our Finance and Facilities
Committee, for his contribution and help, and to our trustees who deliberated
with us each step of the way, both on the facilities plan and the funding.

Top
Specific Initiatives.

These areas are
on the table, launched, but need our support in their early stages.

1. New Schools
Of Theology And Psychology, Family, and Community. I would like
to see a significant launching of these two new schools, initiatives
that will develop these programs into premier, national schools. We
will need to build and clarify vision, provide support to the two new
deans (Les Steele and Nathan Brown), provide positioning, and determine
needed resources. I am thrilled by the development of these new schools.

2. The Common
Curriculum. I want to encourage and support continued refinement
of this great program. A premier, national core program. This is the
heart of our undergraduate curriculum. We need to take stock on where
we are and what refinements are now necessary. We have invested heavily
in this program and what a program it is. Now we need to ensure that
we see it towards its best conclusions. I am deeply grateful to Joyce
Erickson for her superb leadership all along the way and so many others
who have invested in this program. This has been outstanding work. I
will ask the Provost to commission Cindy Price as the point person,
along with the two deans responsible for most of the curriculum, Les
Steele and Joyce Erickson, to bring a report to me sometime in the year
on what changes might be needed. Let's take stock to make this program
superb.

3. National
Profile For Our School Of Business. Tremendous congratulations
to our School of Business for the AACSB accreditation. Thanks to Alec
Hill, Gary Carns, and all the faculty who gave leadership and input
for this process. This is a group of people who stepped up. Now,
I would like to see us develop this school into the national Christian
business school and experience the growth and strengthening commensurate
to our new status.

4. New Vision
And A New Plan For The Computer Science Department. We cannot
afford, given our environment, not to be one of the strongest computer
science programs anywhere. We need to light a fire under this program,
create a vision, locate the funding, and move forward. I will be calling
on the academic leadership and the leadership of this department to
move forward this year with new planning. Our thanks to Mike Tindall
and all of the other faculty for their good work. We would like now
to invest to take them to the next level.

5. Support
For Our Scholars. I want to give presidential sponsorship to
a new lifting up of our scholars and intellectuals to be even more effective
as culture-shapers. I don't exactly know what this means but I will
be working with the academic leaders to provide new presidential direction
and support in this area. Let's make the Center for the Scholarship
of Wisdom a meaningful reality. My thanks to Bruce Murphy and Susan
Gallagher for their strong work along the way to support our faculty
development in this area. But we want to take some real steps this year.

6. Building
the endowment. We will continue to give strong support and sponsorship
for endowment growth, both endowment management and fundraising to increase
endowment. The new donor advised fund is now approved by the IRS and
soon will be operative and marketed. I would note the truly extraordinary
work of Don Mortenson, Gordie Nygaard, and our Foundation Board. We
stand about $75 million in assets under management. This comes with
good work from our fundraisers, our managers, our investment team, and
our Foundation Board. This is a crucial area for our strength in the
future. As you know, by the end of the campaign, we want this number
to be at $100 million and we are well on our way.

7. Women's
soccer. We will launch a first-rate new program, in our great
soccer tradition. This was a must-do. Thanks to Tom Box for his leadership
in the athletic area, to the Teel family for start-up funds, and for
the legendary Cliff McGrath for his great tradition. This is a decision
and a commitment to treat our women with respect by providing a program
much in demand.

8. Faculty/Staff
Compensation. Commensurate to our aspiration to be a premier,
national Christian university, we must pay our people well and support
them with good benefits. I think we are making great progress, but we
will not take the pressure off ourselves. We have to have the faculty
compensation plan completed before we set salaries for next year
(you may remember I said this last year). We will seek further refinements
and communication on our staff compensation program. We must continue
to invest in our people. You are our prized assets, above all others.
You need and deserve good, clear direction. You need to have a sense
of where you fit into the whole, how your piece of our work contributes
to the vision. And you need to be compensated well.

9. Budget
management. We have the finest and most sophisticated budget
management anywhere, but we need to take the next steps now to empower
especially the deans to use their budgets to accomplish their plans.
Budget management needs to get even stronger. Good information must
be provided. Budget managers must be well trained and they must be held
accountable. We've got to clean up and make more responsive especially
the budget management in the academic area.

10. Worshiping
Community. We need to give our Dean of the Chapel the kind of
support necessary to succeed in his passionate desire to lead us in
the area of worship. What is success? What is chapel? What is community?
What is worship? These are the things he is wrestling with, and I want
to support him in all ways as we refine, innovate, and reflect on how
best to accomplish something new and fresh in our efforts to know how
to worship.

Funding the Vision.
I want to say two things.

1. The new
conceptual strategy for funding our vision is this:

We have a $150
million to $200 million vision and plan over the next ten years. This
is the investment requirement of our vision.

On the other
hand, we have five streams of funding for this vision:

fundraising
at the next level;

new net
revenue from tuition based on our pricing strategies over the
last five years;

new sources
of revenue from new markets and our R&D efforts;

bond financing,
an historic and dramatic new investment tool;

and resource
allocation and realignment.

This is a strong
plan for realizing our vision. It will not happen unless we are
all pulling in the same direction.

2.But
I also want to recognize something else: while all of this is going
on at the macro level, with the big numbers and the big strategies,
sometimes it does not get translated into the needs and concerns at
the micro level. We must find the way for our deans and area managers,
first to know what their needs are, secondly to know how to realign
their budgets, and thirdly to know how to bring those needs to the budget
process in a healthy and credible way. The requests from each area
have to have the credibility of good managers and good process, but
we need to build a new and responsive system of funding for the micro
issues. We will roll up our sleeves to ensure that you are not being
nickel-and-dimed and that you are receiving the proper resources and
support to do your job.

Four Areas of
Personal Focus for the President. In addition to the areas above,
I will give sponsorship and guidance to four presidential initiatives.
Each of these tasks appears in CP21. I am not off on some new tangent,
but rather simply lifting these up for new emphasis. I will be calling
on the expertise and leadership from across the campus to help me get
these things done.

SPU Scholars
Engaging the Culture. I have been doing a lot of new thinking
and reflecting on how critical the Christian scholar and the Christian
intellectual are to engaging the culture. I'll be talking about that
in my convocation address. We need to be culture-shapers, and our
intellectuals must receive our highest level of support.

And
so, I want to think further on what it means to invest clearly
and significantly in our faculty as scholars and intellectuals.
I am giving new Presidential sponsorship for the life of the
mind at SPU. We will raise the money this year for two new endowed
scholars. But I want especially to think clearly and perhaps
in fresh ways on how we can support our scholars to be even
more effective.

This
is by no means the whole answer, but I am setting aside $20,000
to invest in intellectual activity that engages the culture.
I will ask the academic leaders to help guide this, but
I want to encourage our scholars to submit to me, the Provost,
or the deans, ideas and proposals that you believe reflect our
vision of engaging the culture through your scholarship and
intellectual activity.

Sabbath Culture.
What are some small steps we can take here. United Airlines and
the new five inches that make all the difference. Let's aim for some
concrete results. A very specific initiative. I am calling on the
Dean of the Chapel to continue his work to give us leadership here.
Let's teach ourselves what it means to bring sabbath balance to our
lives.

Try this.
Take a sabbath each week. At least let us start there. Worship
on Sunday and take the day to revel in God's flourishing grace.
Take a nap. Take a walk. Read the NY Times. Study the Scriptures.
Pray. But don't work.

Racial Harmony.
I have grown in my own conviction that we should contribute
somehow to racial harmony in our community. I will be taking some
leadership here, and I will look to lift up the work of so many of
you in this area. For me this is a new reaching out to the church
leadership in the African American community in Seattle. What can
we do? What friendships do we need to invest in? ·

Leadership
of Hope. I need to take some lead here. I need to be a voice for
Christian unity. I need to articulate my deepest convictions around
a leadership with moral vision. How can I make a difference? How can
we as an institution make a difference?

I want
to begin planning for a major national conference on Christian
Unity and Moral Vision. February 2002 is the target date, attracting
Christian leaders from all over the country and the world. I
want us to take leadership on Christian unity and engaging the
culture among evangelical leaders across the country. We will
soon form a planning team for this event.

Engaging the
Culture/Changing the World: So What's Going On? What are some of
the things our people are accomplishing at the moment? There are some
extraordinary things going on in this place. In presenting these recognitions,
I risk leaving some out. I hope you will help me know what I have left
out. But here is a campus that is truly engaging the culture/changing
the world.

1. Mark Walhout
and Susan VanZanten Gallagher have just published an edited book called
Literature and the Renewal of the Public Sphere.

2. Michael Caldwell's
painting was selected as one of 100 to exhibit in the Arts for the
Parks, a touring exhibition of the Top 100 Artists in the landscape
tradition. Michael was chosen from 2,300 entries.

3. I want to recognize
RESPONSE and the editorial strategy to "tell the stories" of our vision.
This is show rather than tell. Jennifer Gilnett has done an award-winning,
superb job of editing this journal. Also, watch out for our new Viewbook
for prospective students. There is a very new and fresh feel to this
publication and it is designed carefully around our vision.

4. Tim Dearborn
tells me that 41 of our faculty and staff lead cadres for students
in all sorts of areas, and Tami Anderson-Englehorn has been reporting
to me throughout the summer on our extraordinary reach with SPRINT.

5. National ACDA
event for our Concert Choir. This is national recognition now for
our rising choral program. This is a major honor and recognition for
the work of David Anderson and our choral program. By the way, we
will be bringing SPU downtown with a Christmas concert in Benaroya
Hall, something I have been dreaming about for some time.

6. Praise from
the State Board of Education for our five certification programs in
the School of Education. The State Board of Education called the SPU
teacher certification presentation for reaccreditation the "...clearest,
most definitive presentation of positive impact on student learning
that I've heard in several years."

7. Jeff Fouts
was chosen by the Gates Foundation with a $1.6 million grant to create
and lead the new Washington Educational Assessment Center. This center
bears the SPU name. Watch for new state-wide attention to the work
of Jeff and Martin Abbott.

8. Ken Moore reports
some fabulous recent MCAT exam results for our students. 45 SPU students
took the exam: In verbal reasoning our students ranked between the
86th and 97th percentile of all students nationwide who took the exam.
In physical science 87th to the 97th percentile, and in biological
science 96th to the 100th percentile. Outstanding results for our
science faculty.

9. Don Holsinger's
traveled to Israel/Palestine as a part of Christian Peacemaking Team.
Michael Roe worked again in Northern Ireland as a research associate.
Kevin Neuhouser again spent 6 weeks this summer in Brazil doing research
and serving. In the spirit of this kind of research and travel, Michael
Roe says he was again "on the ground in Northern Ireland during the
heightened tensions surrounding the marching season. Direct observations
in the streets of the Northern Irish 'Troubles' are invaluable to
my personal understandings and interpretations, as well as to the
credibility of my work and my voice." These are courageous activists
and scholars engaging the culture to change the world.

10. During this
past year, Dr. Nathan Brown, Dean of the School of Psychology, Family,
and Community published a series of three articles on Family Psychology
in the Chinese Journal of Health. This reflects the collaborative
focus on training and research that is developing between our school
and the Beijing Medical University. Don MacDonald is also involved
in this research on the impact of modernization on family structure
in the People's Republic of China. In December Nathan Brown was the
keynote speaker for the International Consultation on Intercultural
Counseling at the Christian Counseling Center in Vellore, India.

11. Steve Layman
read a paper "God and the Moral Order" at the Gifford Bequest International
Conference in Aberdeen, Scotland in May.

12. Mark Pitts,
Dean of our School of Education, is President Elect of the Washington
Association of Education Deans and has been named to the National
Board of Examiners of NCATE.

13. Alberto Ferreiro
was invited to be part of Pope John Paul II's Jubilee 2000 celebrations,
including a private audience and ceremony.

14. Cindy Price
and Susan Gallagher both participated and gave leadership in the Women's
Leadership program of the CCCU. By the way, I hear about Susan Gallagher
all over the country-a real ambassador for SPU, the scholarship of
wisdom, and Christian higher education.

15. Professor
Bill Nagy was named as member of a team of national experts, including
faculty from Stanford, Harvard, and the University of Maryland, to
set reading education research policy for the first decade of the
new millennium.

16. Rick Steele
got the manuscript of a book of essays on "heart religion" in the
Methodist tradition off to the editors of the series. Rick also had
articles published in Theology Today and Horizons: The
Journal Of The College Theology Society.

17. Dan Tripps
served as expert commentator for Part IV of the History Channel production
of Top Speed, a four-part documentary of the quest for speed
in automobiles, airplanes, boats, and human power. Dan also completed
his book, The Heart of Success: Conversations with Notable Achievers,
with forwards by Walter Cronkite and an afterword by John Wooden.

18. A wonderful
success story goes on each year in the enrollment management area.
We've stabilized our UG enrollment and net revenue goals once again
in 99-00. Not only did we meet our net revenue goals, we've been able
to exceed them by $700,000. Our thanks to Marj Johnson, Janet Ward,
Ken Cornell, Vicki Rekow, and all the others. I am told we are right
on target for this year again.

19. Debra Sequira
reports that all of her department will be actively involved in the
national convention for National Communication Association's annual
convention here in Seattle in November. The theme of this year's convention
is "Communication: The Engaged Discipline." I am told that I will
be presenting the keynote address to the Religious Communication Association
on engaging the culture! Todd Rendlemann presented a paper for the
International Communication Association Convention in Acapulco, Mexico,
June 5, on evangelicals and representations of sexuality in contemporary
film.

20. Dr. Carolyn
Strand is the School of Business and Economics Scholar of the Year.
Over the past 24 months, Carolyn has produced an amazing amount and
quality of scholarship. She has authored or co-authored seven articles
in refereed journals and seventeen refereed proceedings or presentations.

21. Over the summer
2000 grad Heather Wallace, an All-American distance runner, received
two more academic awards. The NCAA awarded her one of its post-graduate
scholarships. Then she was named NCAA Woman Athlete of the Year for
Washington State. As Bill Woodward says: we flat out own the Woman
of the Year award. This is the seventh time in 8 years an SPU
woman student-athlete has represented Washington State. Our thanks
to Bill for being a champion for athletics as a faculty member. Commendations
to Doris Heritage as coach and mentor to all of these athletes.

22. I want to
encourage and recognize the great work of our Advancement team: Doug
Taylor and new stuff in Alumni; Sig Swanstrom and terrific new efforts
for Fellows; Robert Gunsulus leading the campaign and development
work; Gene Keene in planned giving. Watch for some great things to
happen in the year ahead.

23. Alec Hill
was appointed to AACSB' s Business Accreditation Committee effective
August, 2000. This committee oversees the accreditation process for
all member business schools. He is also president-elect of AACSB's
Western's Dean Association.

24. This past
year members of the School of Theology taught and lectured in Latin
America, Southeast Asia, India, Australia, and the U.K. I am so
proud of the scholar/teachers in the School of Theology. They
continued to develop and refine the foundations curriculum for our
undergraduate students. As Dean Les Steele says, "they continued to
publish books and articles that seek to nurture the church, challenge
the academy, and engage the culture."

25. I would like
to commend Kathleen Braden, Kim Campbell, Mary Jayne Allen, Jim Korner,
and Elonna Visser for their hard work in managing our way through
space constraints and a new housing policy. By the way, I will miss
Jim Korner. There are a lot of new faces in Student Life and Residence
Life. Kathleen Braden is building an outstanding team.

26. Jay Uomoto,
Director of Research for School of Psychology, Family, and Community,
is engaged in the National Institute on Aging research on risk factors
for dementia in older Japanese-Americans. Jay is a national leader
in the area of multicultural aspects of brain dysfunction.

27. John Thoburn,
Director of University Counseling Center, this past year led a team
of doctoral students to Bosnia in order to collaborate with local
professionals in responding to the acute emotional trauma that many
Bosnians have suffered in the war. Dean Nathan Brown says, "this experience
was life-changing for many of the doctoral students who participated,
sensitizing them to the need for psychological care beyond our borders."

28. Our students
can now search for a job on our new internet tool called JobNet. Thanks
to Jacqui Smith Bates and her team in the Career Development Center
for their leadership in this area. Jacqui and her team served as hosts
for the Washington State Career Center Directors meeting this past
year.

29. Dr. Kenman
Wong, School of Business and Economics Teacher of the Year: in partnership
with KCTS-TV, Piper-Jaffrey, the Russell Company and Rotary, Kenman's
students identify and nominate socially responsible businesses for
the "Good Works Awards." Three of the five winning companies were
nominated by his students. We received great recognition at Rotary
this last year. What a team. What a community. So many ways to fulfill
our vision.

My Role As President.
This will begin my fifth year as president of SPU. I have been here
for seven. According to the national averages I am becoming a senior
president. It may be time to go.

But I want you to
know I feel we are just getting started.

Let me tell you
why I am here for some time to come. I am devoted with great passion
to three things: 1) bringing God's flourishing grace into the world;
2) lifting up our vision to engage the culture and make a real difference
both as an individual and as an institution; and 3) contributing to
grace-filled community for the sake of our people here at SPU. Christ's
kingdom, vision, and our people-that's where my focus will always be.
And we've got a long ways to go before we realize both our vision and
our grace-filled community.

For 35 years I have
been directly involved in Christian higher education, as a student,
faculty member, parent, board member, and president. And I believe we
have a special opportunity in this place at this time to build something
really new in Christian higher education.

I am a builder.
I have learned that about myself. For better or worse that's the
kind of president you have. I want to create something new here. Another
president might sit tight on what we have, rest on our laurels, which
are many. But that is not me. This way of living and leading requires
some real risk-taking and receives some criticism along the way. I am
ready for that.

Let me add this.
To be a builder, to be this kind of leader, requires vision. That's
why I work so hard on vision.

And vision is grounded
on ideas. I need to think, reflect, and write. Help me know how
to do that. Give me some space. Help me know what to read, who to hear,
how to listen, what to write, where to speak.

And then, go with
me as we build. Roll up your sleeves with me. Let's create and build
something new.

Guiding Texts.
To conclude, let me share one of my guiding texts for the year with
you. My texts this year are all about Jesus Christ, as you will hear
in the Convocation address, and they are about bearing witness to hope
in the world.

"My aim," says
Paul, "is to keep them in good heart and united in love, so that they
may come to the full wealth of conviction which understanding brings,
and grasp God's secret, which is Christ himself, in whom lie hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."Colossians 2:2

God bless each one
of you. Thank you for your good work. Thank you for caring deeply about
our work together. I wish you all the best in the year ahead.